Matthew chapter 15. Title of this message, A Dog
of a Sinner Saved. A Dog of a Sinner Saved. What a contrast between the self-righteous
Pharisees coming to our Lord to straighten Him out and this
Gentile woman falling at His feet. What a difference. The one came to straighten him
out while the other one came for mercy. Mercy. That's all she asked for, mercy.
She came pleading for mercy. The one came to instruct. The other came to beg. One came with pride and arrogance.
The other came with a broken heart over her daughter being
vexed with the devil. All who come, come one or the
other. People either come as Pharisees
or they come as sinners. It says, And behold, a woman
of Cana came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying,
Have mercy on me, O Lord. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Here is something worth beholding,
a dog and its master, a sinner and her Savior. This woman, it
says, was of Canaan. I want you to turn with me over
to Genesis Now, I think it's chapter 9. I didn't mark it down.
She was a Canaanite. It's out of Phoenician, but she
was from Canaanite. Now, you know the story over
here in Genesis chapter 9. How the ham went into the tent
and looked at Noah laying there naked and came out and made fun
of him. and did what he did there. And it says in verse 24, And
Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his young son had done
to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan. This woman is from where? She's a Canaanite. This woman
is from the tribe of Ham, the lineage of Ham that's cursed.
Here is a woman that's cursed. Cursed be Canaan. A servant of
servants, a servant of the lowest form, a servant of servants,
shall he be unto his brethren." Well, that's where she came from.
That's her ancestry. A cursed people. But everyone,
everyone who comes to Christ comes to Him under a curse. Everyone
who comes to Christ comes to Him under that law curse. Everyone
whom he saves. Every last sinner he saves, he
saves from a curse. So she comes to him. This is
who she is. And she comes to him. And she cries for one thing. One thing that she cries for.
She's not very wordy here. She cries for one thing. Mercy.
Mercy. She is asking, and he's going
to make her to know it even more than she knows it now in the
beginning, but she's asking for something that she does not deserve. We do not deserve the grace and
mercy of God. We don't deserve it. It does
not matter how morally a person has lived. They've been raised
from the Sunday school on up and taught we still do not deserve
mercy and grace. Nothing about us or in us would
commend us to God's mercy. Mercy is for the guilty, the
worthless. That's what mercy is for. And
she recognizes his lordship over all. The Pharisees didn't call
him Lord. They didn't recognize his lordship. But she recognizes
His Lordship over all. Thou art the Sovereign. Faith
had already been worked in this young woman's heart. Whether she's young or old, I
don't know. But faith has already worked here. God had already
been doing something. She heard of Him. She heard of
Him. And when she came, all He did
was bring out of her what was already worked into her. That's
what he brought out of what God had already worked in. And she
heard of Him. She heard of who He is. She heard of His miracles. This is the Lord. This is the
Sovereign. This is the Sovereign of heaven
and earth. He has power over all things, all persons, all
government, all authority is in His hands. And I'm going to
go to Him. For the first time, for her daughter,
she had a glimmer of hope. that someone could help her.
And this someone was only the Lord Jesus Christ. And she recognizes
Him to be the promised Messiah. Not just someone who could heal,
but this is the promised Messiah that's to come. He's the One. He's the Savior. This Syrophoenician
Gentile woman, cursed woman from a cursed tribe, came to the Lord. She said, He can do something
for me. He can do something for me. Something that no one else
could do for me. What she was asking for was beyond
all human help. The devil has my daughter. The
devil has my daughter. That's what she said. And she
asked for mercy on herself, but she's asking it for her daughter.
If the Lord has mercy on our children, It's as if He's had
mercy. It's just the same as Him having
mercy on me. Just the same. She said, have mercy on me. She's
pleading for her daughter. This should stand as an example
to every believing parent. This ought to encourage us to
seek Him to save our children. Lord, save our children. This woman came to the Lord to
save her daughter. That's what she came for. She
says she's vexed with the devil, vexed with an evil spirit. But I tell you this, as Frank
was teaching us this morning, those who are born of God, they
belong to Christ. Those who are not, they belong
to Satan. Now, we're not our own. We're
not on an island by ourselves. Now, you either belong to one
or the other. And she's praying, Lord, save my daughter. She's vexed by the devil. And
I say, Lord, save our children. Save them from themselves. Save
them from their sins. Save them from the curse of the
law. Save them from Satan. Save them from this world. Lord,
save my daughter. Oh, there's an example of a parent.
And notice how earnestly she prayed for her daughter. This is how earnestly we need
to pray for our own children. Really, truly. She earnestly
was begging. She was begging the Lord to do
something for her daughter. But He answered her not a word.
That seems cold, doesn't it? It seems hard. It seems hard. You would think He would draw
her up in the air, First, He's going to prove her faith. He's
going to put her in her place. If the Lord doesn't put me or
you in our place, we'll have no place in heaven and no place
in glory. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And what He's doing here, He's going to put her in
her place. He's going to make her to understand, really understand
she doesn't deserve the mercy she's asked for. She knows she
doesn't deserve, we know we don't deserve mercy, but sometimes
we don't know as much as we think we know. Not as much as we think. He answered her, not a word. First of all, he will speak in
his time. We lay our prayers before God,
but I'm telling you, he speaks when it's time to speak. When it's time to speak, he'll
speak, and when he speaks, power will go forth with his word.
He does not waste words like we do. When he speaks a word,
that word goes with power, and it means something, and it's
going to do something, and it's not going to return void. It's
not going to return void at all. And while he does this, he demonstrates
to her his sovereignty. Here's Socrates. He does not
owe her a word. Does God owe you a word? Does
He owe us a word this morning? I honestly, I pray, before I
even came here today, I said, Lord, give us some crumbs from
the master's table this morning, some crumbs of blessing. Let
us go away this morning blessed. But He doesn't owe us a word.
He did not owe her a word. And she's going to understand
this. She's going to know this. If
he answers me, if he answers me, if he looks my way, if he
considers my petition, it's an act of pure mercy. Mercy on his
part. In his silence, I think in his
silence, he reveals to her her own unworthiness. As she stood there, And he's
just silent. You know she has to feel more
and more of her unworthiness to be there in his presence. She's going to know and feel
what she is by the time this is over. And then after this,
she cries to his disciples. What she does, she cries to the
disciples. He didn't answer her a word, so she speaks to them.
See, he's in a house. She's outside here, so she speaks
to the disciples. To speak to him for her and they
handle it badly. We usually do. We usually mess
up. Usually do. They went in and
they said to. It said here, let me find my
verse here, but in verse 23, but he answered her not a word
and his disciples came and besought him because she had asked them.
She's spoken to them. to speak for her on her behalf.
And they went in and said, send her away. She's crying after
us. She ain't crying after us. She's
crying after him. She might be using him to go
to him, but she's crying after him. Us can't do anything. She
knows us can't do anything. She's crying after him. They
say she's crying after us. And I think what they're probably
saying here is give her what she wants and send her away.
get rid of her, she won't leave. His silence did not run her off. Silence will not run a child
of God off. God may be long in answering prayer, but the child
of God will not be ran off. Not His children. Well, they
gave bad advice, as usual. The Lord does not save sinners
and then run them off. Send them away, get rid of them.
You see, she's an embarrassment. This Gentile woman is an embarrassment
to the disciples. She's a Gentile dog. That's what
they saw her as, a Gentile dog. And here's what they are saying.
Lord, get this dog out of the house. That's their attitude. They didn't like dogs in the
house. Get this dog out of the house.
She cries after us. And then he answers. And I think he's also answering
the disciples here. And the answer keeps getting
tough, doesn't it? He keeps silent, but when he
speaks, the words that he speaks are convicting. He's convicting
her. Or conviction, I'll tell you what, conviction of sin and
conviction of self, what we are, is tough. It's not easy. There's no such thing as easy
conviction of sin. And he's going to convict her
of who and what she is before him. So when he answered, he
answered and said, I'm not sin. but unto the lost sheep of the
house of Israel." The first word that she heard that came from
his mouth had to do with divine election. It had to do with divine
election. I am, first of all, sent. Sent. God the Father sent me into this
world. He sent me to redeem. He sent
me to establish a righteousness. He sent me to shed my blood for
the sheep. I am not sent here but to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, He was sent to Israel as
a whole, as a fulfillment of Scriptures, a fulfillment of
the promise. But now, He was sent to save
lost sheep. You tell her I'm sent to save
lost sheep. And here she is, a Gentile dog. But really, she's
a sheep. She's a sheep. You know, we are
not born into this world when we come into this world. We are
not born into this world with the nature of a sheep. We're
born with the same nature that everyone that perishes with. We're born with that same nature.
The Lord creates that sheep. He's the one who does that. So
the first word she heard had to do with divine election. And
she knew she was not an Israelite. She knew that. She knew who she
was. She was a Gentile woman. But
this is another trial of her faith. Just another trial of
her faith. He was on a mission. Our Lord
was on a mission with a purpose to accomplish. He wasn't He was not just walking
around doing good for the sake of doing good. He came to save
sinners. He came to save lost sheep. And that's what he lets her know. But when he said this, as discouraging
as it was, in verse 25, then, when he said
this, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
There's not a glimmer of hope in that for her. There's not. But after he said that, then,
that's right, when he said this, then came she and worshipped
him over in Mark. She came and fell at his feet. I know who and what I am. I'm
not claiming to even be a sheep. I tell you this, I'm a dog, but
I'm your dog. You're the Lord. You own all
things. You own all the world is yours. All of it, everything
in it's yours. It's all yours. So when she heard
this, then she came. You couldn't run her off. You
cannot run a sinner off, I'm telling you. You can't offend
a sinner. People who are easily offended
are people who think highly of themselves. This woman didn't
think anything of herself at this time. She needed mercy.
She was praying for her daughter. She needed help and she needed
him. And listen to this. Then came she and worshipped
him. That is, she fell at his feet saying, Lord, help me. Oh, what a prayer. Like Peter
said, Lord, save me. Lord. You know what she's recognizing
here? She's actually recognizing His Godhead. She's recognizing Him to be God
over all. She's recognizing Him as God
and that all things belong to Him. And she says to Him, Lord,
and she says this, bow down at His feet. She may be down on
all fours at His feet like a dog and saying, Lord, help me. Lord help me. He did not say one thing to her
that would even in the slightest way encourage her to keep asking. Read that, read through that.
He did not give her one glimmer of hope. Yet he had worked that
hope in her before she even came there. That's why she came, because
he worked it in her. All mysterious is the work of
God. It goes on before we even recognize it. Who knows? Who knows with these children
what's going on? Who knows at what age that the Lord will give
life to it? Who knows? Who knows? Then he said to her in verse
26, he just keeps bursting her bubble. You see, conviction has
to come first. Conviction of sin has to come
first. A person whom the Lord says has
to know who and what they are. Well, they'll never come to Him.
They'll never believe on Him or appreciate Him for who He
is or worship Him for who He is until they are convicted who
and what they are. But He answered and said, it
is not meet It's not proper to take the children's bread and
cast it to the dogs. It's not proper to cook dinner,
set the table, and then take that food and give it to the
dogs first and then let the children eat the scraps. He said that's
not. That's not the natural way to
do things. We're not dealing with natural
ways, are we? But he is setting forth the truth here. He's setting
forth the truth. It's not me to take the children's
bread and cast it to the dog. You're asking me to take the
children's bread, their salvation, They're miracles, they're mercies
and all that, and give it to you. You're asking me to take
everything that belongs to God's elect and give it to you. He's working on her heart. You know what he's doing here?
He's doing open heart surgery without anesthetic. without any
anesthesia, without putting her to sleep. Listen, when the Lord
does heart surgery, He wakes you up. Then He does it. She is feeling her complete unworthiness
in His presence. She's feeling her complete unworthiness
for what she's asking. Just this mercy. This mercy for
this one daughter, her young daughter. She's asking for this
One mercy. And He's making her to know that
she doesn't deserve it. That she doesn't deserve it at
all. We don't deserve the least of God's mercies. Not the least. I told someone not too long ago
here, I said, whatever the Lord takes from us is still less than
we deserve. Whatever He takes from us is
less than we deserve. And you know what she said? Truth, Lord. Truth. Everything that you have just
said, everything that you have said is absolute truth. I have
no right for what I'm asking for. I am a dog of a sinner. Lord, I have no right for this.
Truth. What you just said is absolute
truth. You notice over in verse 12,
the disciple said, Lord, don't you know the Pharisees were offended? They were offended. But you couldn't offend her.
She just said truth. That's the heart of a regenerated
sinner. There's none good, no, not one.
Truth. Truth. The Lord put her in her place
and she said, that's the truth. That's the truth. Yet, yet the dogs She just couldn't
burst that hope. God gave her, couldn't He? Here
He is saying these words to her. Here He is convicting her of
sin. And yet at the same time, here He is holding her. Here
He is bringing her along. It's just like taking a child
and leaving it alone. And at the same time, He's convicting
her of who and what she is. But at the same time, He's holding
her up. Keeping her going. Keeping that hope going. Yet
the dogs Eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. She claims him to be her master. You are my master. There she
sits at his feet like a begging dog for a crumb of mercy. All
I want is a crumb of mercy on my daughter. She recognizes him as her master. And she is a dog. I have some
dogs, and I let them in the house. I even let them sleep on the
bed time or time. I kill some people, but I do. I let Molly
come in and sleep with Cole all the time now. He wants Molly
in the house to sleep, but she's welcome in my house. That dog
is welcome in my house. And this dog, this dog is welcome
in his house. And these dogs, I'm looking at
a bunch of, I'm looking at a bunch of dog of sinners and every last
one of them is welcome in his house. He said, I got a place
for this dog. I'm going to go prepare a place
for this dog. This one's welcome in my house. And all she wants
is a crumb of mercy from her master. It's like a begging dog. You ought to see, when I walk
out on the back porch, I have four dogs. When I walk out on
the back porch to go down, those dogs go nuts. They run around
like it's a circus. And I mean, they're running around
me just wagging their tails. I could call them every name
in the book. And they'll still wag their tail. And they'll still
be my dog. I could do. I mean, I could do
a lot of things for two of them, and they'll still come to my
feet. I correct them. I do. I correct them, and they
still come to my feet. I've got one of them in particular
that every time I go out there, she comes up and she lays at
my feet. Every time I go out there, she
runs the other ones off. She gets between them and pushes
them away, and then runs back and gets to my feet. That's what she's doing. That's what she's doing. And
the Lord looks at her, this Gentile dog of a sinner, and He says
in verse 28, Then Jesus answered her and said to her, O woman,
great is thy faith. Who would have thought great
faith would have been found in such a woman? I thought great faith was found
in seminaries. I thought great faith was always found in the
pulpit, always found in sinners at the
feet of Christ, believing He can do just what they're asking
for, if He will. Great is thy faith. It's great
because He gave it to her. It's great because it's in Him.
It's in Him who is great. And great faith is believing
God against all else. Whose dog are you this morning?
Whose dog are you? Put that on Facebook. I shouldn't
have done that. Put that on Facebook. I bet,
I thought of this last night. I shouldn't have wrote this down.
I bet all of you on Facebook have positive profiles. I bet
everyone of you have a positive profile. But the only thing that's
positive about a sinner is Christ. He's my positive. He's my positive. That's right. Put your height
and weight on there. Every man will be taller and
every woman will be skinnier. Guarantee it. Christ is our positive. He's
our positive.